Around the world.

U.s. Complains Of Jammed Broadcasts

August 22, 1997|By From Tribune News Services.

China is carrying out "significant interference" of U.S. government-sponsored Mandarin broadcasts to that country, the State Department says.

The United States opposes such jamming and believes "the free flow of information is part and parcel of internationally recognized human rights of free speech and free expression," spokesman James Rubin said Thursday in Washington.

The jamming is directed at Radio Free Asia, which said the interference began Monday. Rubin said that as a result of multiple transmission sites broadcasts to China by the RFA and the Voice of America get through.

China has complained that the RFA interferes in China's internal affairs.

Radio Free Asia was established in the spring of 1996 to promote democracy in Asia's remaining authoritarian countries. Vietnam, China and North Korea are among the primary targets of the broadcasts. Broadcasts in Mandarin occur only a few hours a day.